I returned from the Iberostar Cozumel after a 4 day stay from November 12th thru the 15th. Traveled down with 3 buddies who were there for the diving (I do not dive, but went along to hang out and relax). This is my 2nd trip to Cozumel and I have been to Playa del Carmen 3 times before. The previous trips to Playa were at higher end resorts as I was traveling with my wife, I did not feel it necessary to stay at a high end location since this time I was traveling with guys.
We traveled down with an Adventure Tours charter on Ryan Air, the flight from Dallas was on time and the service was good. Immigration, Customs and Transfers were pretty easy.
The hotel is about a 30 minute drive from the airport and about 20 minutes and $20.00 from Downtown Cozumel. We arrived around 11 and were advised that the room would be ready in about 1 hour, which it was. Check in revealed an average lobby with pretty basic amenities.
The rooms are cozy, with the downstairs having much lower ceilings than the upstairs rooms, which have a vaulted thatched roof. Rooms have a mildew odor, much more prevalent than the other resorts I have stayed at. My friends downstairs room was really bad. They never seem to completely dry out.
I cranked up the AC as soon as we got there and noticed it was not cooling well. I checked the air filter and it was filthy, I just removed it and the system started pumping more air. Our room had a motion detector to turn off the AC if no one has been in the room for a while. I rigged a couple of towels onto the blades of the fan to keep the AC running all day, this helped the odor and kept the room cool when I returned throughout the day.
It was now lunch, so I went to the poolside restaurant. Frankly, the food is average to below average in my opinion. Not very visually appealing, flies buzzing around. Again I have been to several resorts in Mexico and understand this is not a US Hotel or Resort, but nevertheless the food was barely edible in my opinion. One day I got a hamburger and several bites tasted like they had sand in them.
The pool is decent with a swim up bar. There are a number of poolside activities throughout the day, which some people like, but I did not partake. Sometimes the level of commotion between these activities and the children in the pool got to be a bit loud. Liquor served is well liquor and local beer, with a couple of recognized brands such as Bacardi and Jose Cuervo. The drinks were average in strength and the wait at the bars was never too long.
In the evening there was a sometimes-overwhelming smell of raw sewage around some the rooms. The resort is spread out as there a number of bungalows that are 2 story and house maybe 6 or 8 rooms. The problem was not all over the resort but nearby building 89 where we stayed, it was almost to the point of gagging. I spoke with one gentleman by the pool who told me he actually had to throw up after dinner due to the smell. It was so bad one night, it woke me up. Also the smell permeated into the bathrooms. It seemed to be worse at night, perhaps due to the number of showers taken in the evening.
We ended not taking in any dinners there, as we went into town to Primos (excellent) or other restaurants, paying the $20.00 each way.
The beach is well shaded under a number of palm trees, but almost too much so, as it restricts your view. You can get a good view on the beach if you want to sit in the sun. The lawn chairs and cushions are a bit tired, many of them had bird droppings on them, that had not been washed off in a number of days.
The beach is rocky once you get a couple of feet out, but I guess this is standard for the SW side of the island.
The final straw was the fact I got chewed up by some sort of biting insect as well. It does not seem that the culprit was mosquitoes, but rather sand fleas or more likely bed bugs. The pattern, location and number of bites, combined with the fact I never felt like I was getting bit while awake, lead to believe bedbugs are to blame. One of the other guys on the trip in another room also was affected, but the remaining 2 were not. In all my travels to Mexico and the Caribbean I have never been effected to this degree by biting insects.
Overall, I will not return to this resort. Perhaps this resort is comparable with other Cozumel hotels, but there are much nicer places in Playa.




